Cold War: Cuban Missile Crisis to Detente

Cold War: Cuban Missile Crisis to Detente

Discussion & Essay Questions

Available to teachers only as part of the Teaching Cold War: Cuban Missile Crisis to DetenteTeacher Pass

Teaching Cold War: Cuban Missile Crisis to Detente Teacher Pass includes:

  • Assignments & Activities
  • Reading Quizzes
  • Current Events & Pop Culture articles
  • Discussion & Essay Questions
  • Challenges & Opportunities
  • Related Readings in Literature & History

Sample of Discussion & Essay Questions


    Big Picture

    • Was there anything ironic in Kennedy's tough cold warrior position during the 1960 campaign?
      • Attacking the record of Dwight Eisenhower?
      • What made Kennedy a believable representative of a new toughness?
    • How might America's embarrassment at the Bay of Pigs have influenced Kennedy's response to the discovery of Soviet missiles in Cuba?
    • How might Kennedy's campaign rhetoric have influenced his response to the discovery of Soviet missiles in Cuba?
      • Did they?
      • Did Kennedy respond as you might have expected?
    • What was the upside of the "near-death experience" of the crisis?
    • Was there a downside?